Jessica Kruger doesn’t mind when people call her stubborn. Stubbornness has given her strength in moments of uncertainty, ever since falling from a ladder at age 15 and becoming an incomplete quadriplegic.

Stubbornness is what she relied on when two pastry schools told her there was no place for someone like her in their programs. Undeterred, she found a school where she was welcomed.

So, when the Vancouver, Canada, native finally graduated from pastry school in 2019 and started her own business, “The Stubborn Baker” seemed like the perfect name.

What started out as making sweet treats for family and friends has grown into a steady business of creating custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes to help new and repeat customers celebrate the milestones in their lives. Her Instagram page is flooded with pictures of her amazing edible art.

But Kruger, 31, who shares a home with husband and resident taste-tester, Juan, says running a baking business is no cakewalk. She is CEO, head pastry-chef, chief accountant, and delivery driver all in one. And when she is not in the kitchen, she can be found setting up her retail booth at the local farmer’s market or teaching one of her cookie-decorating classes.

The eight-to-12-hour days and occasional all-nighters up filling orders are long, but even during the tough parts, she’s reminded how lucky she is to be doing what she loves and bringing joy to others. Here is what a typical day looks like.

7:00 a.m. I am not really a morning person, which is funny because everyone thinks bakers love mornings. I prefer to work late instead of waking up early. After getting ready, I usually take our dog, Molly, for a walk, check my email and manage my social media pages before heading out the door.

9:30 a.m. It’s a short, 10-minute drive from my house to the commissary kitchen where I rent space. The space includes an industrial oven, cold storage, a sink and other baking essentials. Other than a lowered worktable and placing oven mitts across my lap to balance the hot trays when they come out of the oven, there are not a lot of adaptations I’ve had to make to my workstation. … I have a supplier that delivers my ingredients and a part-time assistant that helps prep, so by the time I hit the door and have my coffee, it’s time to start baking.

10:00 a.m. Mixers are whirring and I’m in the zone. We’re cutting cookies and making the lemon icings and coloring them. Batter is being scooped and my assistant is rolling out dough, which is the thing I find the hardest to do. Since I’m an incomplete quad, my right hand doesn’t fully open and close, but my left hand functions pretty normally.

When I’m not working:

I love playing wheelchair rugby.

Fun Fact:

As a child, I spent 4 years aboard a sailboat my dad built and traveled to 37 different countries.

Best thing about being a baker:

Making people’s most special events a little bit more special.

11:30 a.m. I head to the grocery store to grab a few items we’re low on. I have a big plastic box I place on my lap and take into the store. I get a lot of curious stares because I am usually hidden behind a stack of 20-pound bags of flour, and people are like, “Are you OK?” or “That’s a lot of butter.”

1:30 p.m. A couple of cakes and doz-ens of vanilla shortbread cookies are all out of the oven, cooled and waiting to be decorated, which is where I get to be creative. People are amazed at how steady my hands are and that all my work is done freehand. Decorating happens in stages. There is a lot of drying that needs to happen before you can move to the next step. On average it takes about five minutes to decorate each cookie. The most time I’ve spent decorating one cookie was 30 minutes, but it was a pretty intricate design.

3:00 p.m. My stomach starts to remind me I haven’t eaten yet, so I take a quick 10-minute break to scarf down the lunch I prepared the night before. I do love sweets, but I don’t snack on my creations, not because they aren’t tasty — it’s just after you’ve been tasting things while baking and working on something for hours, it starts to lose its appeal.”

6:00 p.m. I’m carefully loading a cake into my midsize SUV for delivery to a customer. I’ve never dropped one of my cakes! Depending on the size of the cake, I either carefully sandwich it between some larger, heavier boxes in my hatch-back or place it in the footwell on the passenger side and slide the seat all the way forward so the cake doesn’t slide. And I am usually bundled up because I have the air conditioning on full blast no matter what season it is to keep everything from melting. I also often use a large cookie sheet on my lap to help transport cakes. Of course, the bigger the cake, the harder it is to manage, so I have someone help me with those 7:30 p.m. I’ve been working really hard on balance in my life, so I try really hard to be home early on the days that are less busy. Juan and I have a Hello Fresh subscription, so it’s an opportunity to make and eat dinner together.

11:00 p.m. I’m one of those people who feels robbed if I don’t get my Netflix time at the end of the day. I’m currently watching Working Moms. I just feel like I need that time to unwind.

12:00 a.m. Lights out … and sweet dreams, of course!

Update: Since publishing this piece, Kruger announced in a heartfelt video on her Instagram page @thestubbornbaker that she has made the difficult decision to shut down her business. She plans to continue posting her personal baking projects and other creative pursuits.